GOLD, SYMBOL AND SPARK.

(from Storie Fiorentine by Franco Torrini)

Gold, gold. Gold is everything
and all the rest without gold
it's nothing.
(Denis Diderot)

"Gold, gold, always and only gold, the real touchstone to arouse in the human heart the absolute idea of ​​light, perfection, eternal life. An appeal that dates back to the most distant times, a "value unaltered over time", a passion that becomes fever, craving, obsession ......... " so Giovanna Bergamaschi defines Gold in her 1984 booklet.

An introduction that helps us to face in a simple, concise but also rigorous way, some reflections on the yellow metal which in fact is an integral part of the life of every goldsmith, big or small, famous or unknown, good or roughly incompetent.

Following this path, we come to open the door that leads us into the virtual courtyard of what in the XV / XVI century in Florence was called "open-air factory", the first successful post-Renaissance attempt to concentrate more skills, more talents in a courtyard surrounded by a open gallery where the masters and their bench workers, each according to their ability and role.

This entrance introduces us to this now virtual space where this magical metal called gold came from man sublimated with art, with grace and harmony.

The malleability of gold needs to be defended from the very probable external offenses and therefore in goldsmiths it is customary to tie it with other metals that make it harder and wanting with different shades of color. With copper it becomes red, with silver more green and so on until it approaches, with the studies of Benvenuto Cellini (Treatises on Goldsmithery, Florence, Panizzi and Peri, 1568) *, to the definition of art of coloring gold.

Just by re-reading this chapter written by Cellini, in the 30s of the last century Guido Torrini began a long research, then perfected by his son Franco, which led to a particular coloring process called Oro Nativo then protected in the name through its registration at the Italian Patent and Trademark Office.

“Native Gold: After the various processing phases, the jewel is subjected to a pre-ordered heat treatment and then immersed in a liquid called" Acqua Celliniana ", a composite of natural salts, which enhances its natural color by opening its pores and thus keeping it over time. A long and exclusive process that involves the use of skilled hands that to finish only partially polish the emerging metal surfaces with delicate pure cotton brushes, without chemical additives. "

The specific gravity of gold is 19.25 against 23 in Platinum and 10.50 in silver. As a simple example, given the same volume, given the density, gold weighs almost twice as much as silver.

Gold melts at 1064 degrees centigrade, does not oxidize in the air and is a beautiful bright yellow color. It is the most malleable and most ductile metal. For its merits it was chosen since ancient times to represent its value for sacred and profane ornaments, to lift Kings and Queens from the plebs, to stop the race for not only inner beauty.

The most noble alloy in jewelry is made up of 18 parts of pure gold and 6 parts of other metals. From here it is said to 18 carats or if expressed in thousandths therefore from 750 parts of pure gold and from 250 of other metals, gold at 750/000. This title can vary in other uses from the Italian ones, among the most used, in 8, 12 and 14 carat titles, largely losing its visual characteristics and not only.

The beginning of the manufacturing process of a 750/000 gold jewel coincides with a sequence now well defined since the time of Cellini who in 1565 wrote and published his "Treatise on Goldsmithing" in 1568 which shows some fundamental aspects:

1. Goldsmith's art is a great art and not simply an amanuensis work.

2. The goldsmith's workshop, as a place of science and nature, was born and affirmed in the fifteenth century in Florence not only with Cellini but also by those known as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Antonio del Pollaiolo, Maso Finiguerra, Michelangelo, Donatello, the Brunelleschi, Andrea del Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano.

3. In the second half of the 16th century, the Academies were born from the workshops. Cosimo I de 'Medici established the Academy of Drawing in Florence, conferring it a formal constitution in 1563. The Academy enjoyed the protection of the Grand Duke and did not depend on the guilds; nevertheless, the members who practiced the artisan profession were obliged to remain within their respective guild until 1571. Public lessons were held in the Academy in which arithmetic, geometry and anatomy were taught; around 1590, courses on figure drawing were inaugurated and debates on aesthetic issues were also planned in its program.

4. The principle is therefore affirmed that the gold jewel has its creative spark in thought, in design and therefore only after this first phase does the bench process begin and then from that point the gold and the transformations that from the metal are made by talented goldsmiths and their students.

The various production phases of a jewel speak of refining and partitioning, of lost wax casting, assembly on the bench, deep drawing, threading, finishing such as polishing the surfaces or, on the contrary, safeguarding the visual characteristics of gold with the so-called "native" process, the engraving carried out with burins through the firm and expert hand of the engraver, the enamelling, the ancient niello technique, the setting of the stones by trimming and then the riveting of the metal to seal the stone, just to mention a few.

Many different skills to create a jewel and to make it an integral part of the success and rank of the individual who wears it and who will wear it throughout his life and then move on to his heirs as a symbol of memory, value and affection.

At the basis of all this remains the magical metal called Gold, with its stories, both of power and pure love, which still dominates, albeit with changing trend, the financial markets as well as at the same time enhancer of female beauty, of victory in the sport, or in literature with its thousand phrases such as "worth as much gold as it weighs" or "written in golden letters", just to mention some of the thousand suggestions that arise from the charm, the myth, the most unalterable, eternal and legendary, sacred and profane of metals: Gold!